The present invention relates to a filling station or apparatus adapted to fill pleat-sided bags delivered thereto in flat form for transport to a filling position whereat the bag may be filled by a filling funnel. The station comprises spreading members which are adapted to engage the openable end or mouth of the bag to open the mouth so that it can receive the filling funnel, and the apparatus further includes clamping means for holding the opened bag in engagement with the filling funnel during the filling operation.
Devices of the general type described above have been suggested heretofore. However in these known devices, the pleats on the pleated sides of the bag are customarily held pressed together, i.e., remain in their folded condition, during the filling of the bag. A substantially smaller cross-sectional area is thus provided, in these known devices, for filling the bag than would be presented if the pleated sides of the bag had been opened prior to commencement of the filling operation. This disadvantage becomes particularly serious when relatively small pleat-sided bags are to be filled, for in this type of situation the bags cannot in some cases be filled by known filling means inasmuch as the cross-sectional area provided by the opened mouth is too small when the pleated sides of the bag remain clamped together.
The primary purpose of the present invention is to provide an improved filling station of the type suggested heretofore, wherein a pleat-sided bag can be delivered in flat form to a filling position to be filled by means of a filling funnel, but wherein the filling station is so constructed that the pleated side faces of the bag are unfolded prior to commencement of a filling operation, thereby to provide an open mouth bag area which is considerably larger than the mouth area achieved in prior devices, and to permit the filling operation to be accomplished by use of a filling funnel which has a cross-sectional area that is substantially as large as the cross-sectional area of the bag with unfolded side pleats.